Utraque Mages Amaverunt
by knives4cash
Summary: Team RWBY lives in the Roman Republic. Life ensues.


A/N: The title is Latin for "They loved each (other) more."

* * *

I look around me and sigh. It is a beautiful building. Circular with marble seats surrounding me on all sides. I am not granted the luxury of sitting, however.

I sigh.

I do not enjoy these bureaucratic nightmares that we the Republic entitle as gatherings. Do the vultures not gather around a corpse? Do the rats not gather around their first offspring and consume them out of ignorance? It is a title that does us little in the fields of accuracy, precision, and honesty. I sigh. "Romans, please!" I shout, raising my hands out and seeking their silence. "Lend me your ears!" It is a simple, square room.

"Here! Here! Consul Belladonna wishes to speak!" General Rose exclaims, lifting up her right arm and with it a portion of her especially red toga.

"Indeed! let us hear her with decency!" Agrees General Schnee who sits beside her. I refrain from smirking. Their involvement with one another is hardly a secret among these politicians.

"I thank thee for thy sense!" I nod to the two generals. "My fellow citizens of Rome!" I begin, lowering my arms and resting them against the sides of my black toga. "As thou art most painfully aware, my friend and general, Yang Xiao Long, disembarked for the city of Carthage nary three years ago and promptly laid siege unto the capital!" I smile and remove from my toga a rather precious piece of parchment. "And now, through her own words, I deliver unto thee, my most patient brothers and sisters, great news that shall forever be branded upon both Roman and Carthaginian history!"

The entire room is filled with murmurs. Even my two friends whom sit beside each other speak briefly.

"Has the volatile soldier thou doth call a friend managed to rid our civilized lands of that barbaric city?!" General Valkyrie demands, stands up in her pink toga.

"Indeed!" General Ren sighs, sitting next to his friend. "We have thrice now waged a war with this punic people. Are we not rid of them yet?"

"Quite so, old friend!" General Valkyrie exclaims and slaps him on his left shoulder with a grin. "For over a century now, we have been forced to endure such despicable fiends!"

"Patience, my friend!" I call out to her. "If ye shall be seated soundly, I shall read unto thee the personal recollections of our general and consul!"

Silence. Tis a treat that comes rarely in this capitol. I unfold the letter. "Unto my fellow consul and general!" I tastefully skip over the next words of 'and love of my life'. "And friend, Blake Belladonna. I write to thee from atop a guard tower. It is one that stands tall and looks over the city of Carthage-" I need not see the next set of words, for I have already memorized them out of joy. I look up at my fellow politicians and soldiers and smile. "-Which is showcasing unto the world, the wrath of the Roman Republic, for it is engulfed in flames!"

The whole room immediately fills with cheers, praise, and clapping. Everyone stands and applauds.

"This is the day that we have all waited for, fellow Romans!" Weiss Schnee declares with a smile. Such displays, I can only assume, are done in the most private of moments with her lover.

"Praise the general! She be nothing short of a hero!" Ruby Rose cries out with applause.

"Agreed!" General Valkyrie shouts, leaping up. "Such a day must be carved into stone immediately!"

I fold up the paper and tuck it away in my toga, next to my dagger. "Friends! Friends!" I shout again, holding up my arms. "I have more to say unto thee! Lend me your ears for just a few more moments!"

Silence again.

"General Long is sailing from the remains of Carthage directly to Rome! She need not terry any longer in Africa! She need not stop at Sicily! She sails home as I speak!" I shout with joy. For three years, I have remained loyal unto that woman, and I do intend to collect what she owes me with exponential interest.

But such perverse thoughts return to dormant states as everyone shouts, applauds, and hails with joy.

"All of Rome shall taste this victory for the entirety of a week!" General Schnee declares.

"Nay, my fellow victor!" General Valkyrie interjects. "The people of Rome shall know this victory for the entirety of a year!"

Everyone laughs and cheers.

I laugh. "Friends! Friends! As one of two consuls, I advise we settle on a one month celebration!" I am at the center of attention once again. "Surely we must allow the people of Rome to soak in this joy!"

"Agreed!" Shouts General Rose. "We have sacrificed much, as did our forefathers and THEIR forefathers!" She slams her hands down on her marble bench. "We shall not only celebrate this victory, but we shall remind those around us that Rome is not a lady to be agitated!"

"Here here!" General Valkyrie adds, "We are Romans! We! Are! SUPERIOR!" She always clenches her pink toga when shouting so strongly.

We all cheer for her words.

"Then I shall leave this fine Republic to its planning!" I declare with satisfaction. "If there be no other matters that remain undone, I shall take my leave."

"Nay, what be this?!" Valkyrie asks, "Doth thou not wish to bear witness to this celebration?!"

Everyone in the room agrees. "Fear not, my fellow Romans!" I reassure them. "I do not intend to chew through thine ambitions like a termite!" That gets a laugh out of them. "I wish to retire to my personal abode! And await the return of my greatest friend and co-ruler of the Roman Republic!"

"Then we fare thee well, Consul Belladonna!" General Schnee shouts to me.

"And we thank thee for thine services rendered unto the Roman Republic!" General Rose adds with as much zeal.

"Indeed." General Ren adds in a more dormant audacity. "Leave knowing that you and Consul Long shall forever be remembered as heros of Rome."

Everyone applauds me one last time as I bow with gratitude and take my leave.

I exit the beautiful capitol and descend the marble steps that lead into the market center. In the middle of the busy populous stands my most loyal servant and my most battle-hardened steed. "Tarus." I nod to him.

He bows unto me and offers me the reins. "My lord." He returns. I take the reins and mount my prized mare. "How does thou fare?"

"I fare well." I smile to him. "And I thank thee for not running off with my trophy."

He chuckles. "I would not even fathom the ferocity of which you would hunt me down with, my lord." He bows and steps back. "Shall I acquire anything specific for the returning of thine friend? Perhaps some wine for the inevitable private moments?" He asks with a smirk.

I scoff. "Watch thy tongue, Adam. Perhaps I shall have it cut out and roasted to perfection." He chuckles.

"Then I shall collect the usual order of food and drink." He informs me.

"I thank thee." I withdraw from my toga a small pouch of coin and toss it to him. "I return to my estate. See to it that I have milk for tonight's meal. And do not fret, my friend. If thou wishes to stroll throughout this mighty city, please indulge thyself." I wink at him. "Just be sure to return unto me before the sun rise."

His face lights up at my words. It's not often I allow a servant to wander the city without my watchful eye. "Thou are a most gracious woman, mine lord."

"Pray that thou doth not forget such a truth." I chuckle and ride off.

The open roads make for faster travel, and I quickly return to the massive building that is my home, built upon the foundation of the collective wealth of my military accomplishments and Yang Xiao Long's artistic ambition. Perhaps when she returns with Carthaginian booty we can fund our own private bathhouse.

"How fares thee, mine lord?" Another one of my servants asks me as I enter the boundaries of my estate. I dismount and hand the reins off to her.

"I fare well, Vinixa Lewda." I inform him with a smile. "See to it that my horse reach her stable in good health."

Vinixa briefly bows. "Yes, my lord."

She leaves me as quickly as she arrived. I look around with a sigh of pride. This wealth was earned through the combined ambition of muself and Yang Xiao Long.

Perhaps we shall go hunting when she returns.

Alas, I shall remain without her for a few more days. I begin to wander my gardens aimlessly. Yang and I would make it a point to stroll through on a weekly basis when we were not at war. I had wished to go with her. The grape vines grow well, untroubled by scavengers of bird or human. Picking a handful, I continue my stroll down the corridor of leaves and fruit.

She was most adamant that I remain in Rome, both for my safety and to ensure that I could continue to fund and arouse political support for her war efforts. Reluctantly, I agreed. General Valkyrie had attempted to vie for the "honor" of engaging the Carthaginians on their own soil, but it through a vote we agreed that General Long was more qualified to lay siege to our enemy.

For we all knew that it was General Valkyrie who took risks of unneeded scale in the most crucial of moments in battle.

I sigh and finish off the grapes. This harvest shall be most profitable, but for now I lack the joy of knowing this. What is fortune if one does not have their lover to share it with?

I leave the grapevines and enter the rose gardens. It was rather childish of her, having the entirety of the floristry be grown in the fashion of a maze.

I begin to stroll through it with ease. Yang and I spent many an hour walking, talking, and more adult activities in this maze. And now I walk it alo-

I halt.

That music.

I would remember that music even after an eternity.

The strung notes of a lier are iconic, but it is the song that the lier is playing that I have come to know and love so well.

I begin to run, taking the proper turns through the maze. There is only one mortal in this world who could play Careless Whisper on the lier so beautifully, and that person is-

I gasp as I come upon the center of the maze. There on a marble bench, strumming a lier, and wearing her golden armor that hugs her body ever so perfectly, sits the love of my life. "Yang Xiao Long!"

She immediately stops her song and looks up at me. "Blake Belladonna!" She gasps with a smile. Setting down the lier, she jumps up with a clank and runs towards me with all intentions of hugging me. "Hold fast!" She stops, quickly unfastening her chest plating and letting it drop to the dirt. "Now come to me, my love!" She orders as I eagerly obey her command.

We collide into one another's embrace, laughing, crying, and kissing.

I've missed her so much. "Three years, thou has left me alone." I choke out between kisses.

"I shan't leave thine side again." She informs me. Pulling away by a few inches, just out of kissing range, she uses a thumb to wipe my face. "Dry thine tears, love. I have returned."

"Thou would be wise to remain by mine side for the end of time itself." I laugh out in between sobs. Curse my undying love unto this woman, how she has left me aching both in and out of the bed. "Lest I be tempted to chain thee to mine bed to ensure thou doth not stray!"

She laughs, wiping away more of my tears. "Your servants are diligent. One met me at the boundaries of our estate and informed me that mine letter unto you was much delayed."

I nod. "Indeed. I received it only yesterday." I manage to inform her in between kisses.

"Then perhaps we might capitalize upon this sudden turn of fortune." She slurs as I continue to harass her lips.

"What doth thou propose?" I question.

She chuckles. "Such comical wording thou doth use."

"You speak Greek." I frown.

"Allow me to explain." She giggles. "I am not officially due back to Rome in three days. We may use that time to indulge any tension that thine loins have most definitely built up."

I growl as I begin to nibble on her nape. "Such perversity." Her moan is only encouraging me. "But I shall indulge you for mine own sake."

"Then thou shall take much joy from my next proposition!" She declares as she steps back, taking my hands in her own. "Blake Belladonna, would thou do unto me the honor of sharing the name 'Long' with me?"

I gasp. "You propose marriage?" I fear my legs shall give out from under me.

"Indeed I do!" She laughs between tears of her own now. "Blake Belladonna Long. It roles off one's tongue, does it not?"

I thought I was done crying for the day. "But- But what of the careers we have worked so tirelessly for?"

"Let them be forgotten in the sands of time!'" She beams with joy, wiping away fresh tears from both our eyes. "I have preformed mine duties unto Rome, and thou hath sacrificed much as well! Let us retire and spend the rest of our days here! Together!"

"Whatever would we do with ourselves?" I weakly laugh as I wipe my eyes.

She starts to remove my toga. "Perhaps a live demonstration is in order?"

I start to remove the rest of her armor. "Perhaps."


End file.
